1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a replacement gunstock for use in shortening the overall length of a rifle having a trigger assembly separate from the barrel and breech mechanism.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There are occasions when the overall length of a rifle makes it too long for a particular application, for example when hunting. One solution is to remove part of the length of the rifle barrel to increase the maneuverability of the rifle and decrease the overall weight but there are federal and local laws that make short-barreled rifles illegal. Additionally reducing the length of the barrel also affects the power and accuracy of the weapon.
There are gunstocks for shortening the length of a rifle, commonly called “bull-pups.” These devices typically involve a secondary trigger mounted in front of the original trigger with a mechanical link therebetween. Bull-pups require extensive disassembly of the rifle for insertion into the bull-pup module and an exact linkage of the two triggers. Adjustments tend to be difficult or impossible and “slop” in the linkage can lead to poor trigger action or misfire. Auxiliary equipment such as scopes, lasers and the like must be removed from the rifle and reattached to the bull-pup module after the other parts have been reassembled in the module thus requiring an additional step which may also affect accuracy.
In some rifles the barrel and breech mechanism and the trigger assembly are attached to the gunstock with separate fasteners. Such rifles are sold by Marlin and are available in a number of variations such as Model 60, Model 795 and Model 70P. Since all the aforementioned models are variations on the Model 60 and have similar separate trigger mechanisms and other features in common, the conversion disclosed herein is equally applicable to any of these models, as well as other makes of guns having similar trigger mechanisms.